Arab News, Sunday, Dec 27, 2020 | Jamadi Al Awwal 12, 1442
A startup sees Kuwait’s property-rental industry ripe for disruption
Kuwait: An expat landing in the Gulf for the very first
time will surely find it a melange of unique experiences. Trying to lock down a
rental deal is one of them. In a market with one too many expats and too many
options to choose from, the challenge is as real as it gets.
Even if one does achieve the seemingly impossible and finds a place to call
home, outdated payment systems can prove to be another thorn in their side. This
endless dilemma inspired Shaheen Al-Khudhari back in 2016 to find a definitive
tech-based solution. Thus, he became the founder and CEO of Ajar, a property
management and rent collection startup.
“The idea sprung when I moved into a new apartment and started facing issues
with rent payments, chasing for receipts, withdrawing and safekeeping large
chunks of cash for payment, worrying about missing out on the payment if I was
not in the country and so on,” Al-Khudhari shares.
Having identified key issues in Kuwait’s real estate market, Al-Khudhari
launched Ajar to provide the ultimate convenience to landlords and tenants. The
former get a full-fledged property management service in real time, while the
latter get to pay their rent without breaking a sweat.
The next step was to convince potential clients to use Ajar services, which was
not as big of a challenge as it may seem.
“With my experience as an IT manager in a real estate company, I was able to
reach out to many potential landlords that I knew had problems keeping track of
their real estate performance. Once those joined, it was a word-of-mouth and
network effect that really got Ajar up and running, reaching our first 10,000
units in quite a short time.”
After the astounding success in Kuwait, the next logical step for Ajar was to
expand to the Gulf’s biggest real estate market – Dubai. The company later moved
its headquarters there. “The UAE’s real estate market is international, with a
global mindset, but the practices for rent collection are very unfriendly to the
tenant and rather outdated,” Al-Khudhari said. “Rent payment in Dubai didn’t
match the (progressive) vision for the city.”
From there on, Ajar exponentially grew in popularity and number of users, which
in turn attracted investments that amount to $7.5 million to date.
The onset of the pandemic in March 2020 brought fresh opportunities to Ajar. In
a world suddenly left with no choice but to seek contactless transactions and
remote management, the company was perfectly equipped to overcome the challenges
brought forth by Covid-19. In fact, it has generated more business during the
pandemic than in any year since its inception.
“During the lockdown, when banks were closed and people couldn’t step out of
their houses, we were the only solution provider for property management and
rent collection that was actively collecting rent,” said Al-Khudhari.
“We also learnt from this experience how crucial it is to have a team with a
strong mindset that doesn’t get affected by negative media coverage – a focused,
knowledgeable and dedicated team can get any company to be the best in its
field.”
Today, Ajar is exploring more expansion opportunities to eventually cover most
GCC markets in the next few months. Of particular interest are Bahrain, Qatar
and Saudi Arabia, but the company does not plan to stop there. “We’ll then be
heading to more virgin markets which need to digitize their solutions, like
Malaysia,” said Al-Khudhari.